Huntington Beach State Park…YAY

Here we are!

I was very lucky to find two cancelations at Huntington Beach state park.

Jeff and I would have preferred Hunting Island state park, but this is a close second.

We scored two weeks here and free Wi-Fi to boot! Our satellite TV doesn't work but we are able to grab a few stations via our antenna.

I couldn't wait to get out to see the beach.

So after lunch we headed out.

We have been here before and look forward to exploring again.

Thru the woods and over the boardwalk we go.

Up the sand dunes…

to the beach…

Although the park is full the beach is quiet compared to Myrtle beach.

We pass a dead bird…

We think a young Black Scoter

 

Cannonball Jellyfish

 

The most common jellyfish on the South Carolina coast.

Cannonball jellyfish are bland at best. In China, where slivered, dry jellyfish are commonly served before banquets and strewn across salads, cooks don't use the cellophane-like strips without first dousing them in soy sauce or sesame oil.

Tabasco works too, said University of Georgia food safety professor Yao-Wen Huang, who in the 1980s earned the nickname "Cannonball King" for his work developing a jellyfish processing system.

According to Huang, the allure of jellyfish is its distinctive texture, suggestive of a cross between a potato chip and a stretched-out rubber band. "We call it crunchy-crispy," said Huang. "It's like when you eat chitterlings, you're not really hungry that you want food. You want that mouthfeel."

Desire for that mouthfeel is so intense in China, Japan and Thailand that an export market has cropped up in the Southeastern United States.

Read more about this jellyfish here..

Assuming it gets the go-ahead from the Department of Health & Environmental Control and Beaufort County, Carolina Jelly Balls will begin harvesting Cannonball jellyfish in Seabrook next month.

"This new fishery can become the largest fishery in the state of South Carolina," said Carolina Jelly Balls' front man Steven Giese, who estimates that the project will create 250 to 375 new jobs.

 

I don't think we will be harvesting and trying any of these jelly's…even if they do resemble mushrooms.

We walk the beach north to the jetty.

A three mile walk one way.

Looking south.

Shell decorated shrubs

I think this is a Spider crab.

 

Sea Pork

I wont be eating this either…

Sanderling foraging in the surf.

We are closer to the jetty..

and more Cannonball bodies..

Their little jelly bodies line this section of the beach.

Sanderling and cannonball jelly.

It finds something yummy on the side of the jelly.

Least tern

There is a section of the beach that is closed because its a nesting area for Least tern and Wilsons plover.

We didn't see any Wilsons.

The jetty…

It was very windy and the waves were breaking over the jetty so we decided not to walk to the end.

We headed back to the campground.

We took the forested route back….past gorgeous live oak.

Its great to be here again!